


The Wildest Of Them All Was The Cat

by phnelt



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Monica and Goose BFFs forever, Post-Captain Marvel, Yuletide Treat, background Carol/Maria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21754507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phnelt/pseuds/phnelt
Summary: Goose would just appear in their house sometimes.The first time, Goose was just watching Monica putting together a model of the solar system. Goose was staring at the little Pluto, wobbling on the stretched out wire Monica had set up. She wanted to capture the orbit, but it was making it a little unstable.
Comments: 43
Kudos: 141
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	The Wildest Of Them All Was The Cat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laulan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laulan/gifts).



> Huge thanks to Ashling on ao3 for the beta!

“You don’t have to come, you know,” her mom said, for the thirteenth time. 

Monica rolled her eyes. 

Her mom put up her hands. “All right! I’m just sayin’ if you had some friends you’d rather do a sleepover with...on a Friday…” she trailed off. 

They’d been living in California for a few months now, since her mom took the pilot job with SHIELD. And sure, maybe Monica hadn’t made a _ton_ of friends yet, but it wasn’t like, a problem. Monica mostly preferred her books anyway, which she had told her mom. Several times. 

But her mom was still fussing. 

Her mom had been worried that the move would be bad for Monica, like Monica would be destroyed if she got separated from the only three people she could stand in their town that she wasn’t related to. Anyway, Monica was _from_ California—she’d tell everyone who asked, it didn’t really matter that she couldn’t remember it that well. They had been living in Louisiana for a while. But now they were going home. That was all; it wasn’t a big deal. 

And there were other bonuses too. Like, if Monica had told people she had two moms, she knew for a fact Tanya’s mom would never have let her come over to Monica’s anymore. But here she wasn’t the only one with two moms _in her class._

Sure, even though they had the moms’ thing in common, that boy seemed to hate Monica, but that wasn’t the point. Besides, she was on a soccer team and she just knew that as soon as it was her turn to bring snacks, she’d have friends for life. 

But that was a month from now, so in the meantime she didn’t mind going to dinner sometimes at Mr. Fury’s house. 

*** 

The conversation was pretty boring, though. Her mom and Mr. Fury only talked about work drama, and they didn’t even use everybody’s names so Monica couldn’t even follow it. And then mom would do her usual thing and tease Mr. Fury about why he wasn’t dating anyone. 

“This is why you should hire more black people,” mom said, sipping her wine. 

Mr. Fury raised an eyebrow. “Oh _that’s_ why?” 

Monica thought that didn’t make sense though. If he dated someone at work, they’d be working for him which was _sexual harassment._ Saved by the Bell had done a whole episode about it. Monica opened her mouth to say so, but Mr. Fury said, “Besides, I don’t date at work.” 

Mom wasn’t done, though. She pointed her fork. “People know people, Nick. You gotta ask them for their friends and neighbours.” 

His eyebrow went up even higher. 

Mom snorted. “Hey, you know everyone I know.” She paused for a second. “Unless you want me to ask Carol. She could introduce you to a nice space alien.” 

When her mom had first started at SHIELD, Monica had been kicking her heels in the hallway when an Agent came by, some white guy in a suit who said his name was Coulson. He said, “So your Aunt Carol’s a space alien huh?” And Monica got to quote the greatest Captain Kirk line and say, “She’s from Iowa. She just works in space.” 

Coulson didn’t laugh. 

Monica stabbed at her peas some more. She was trying to see how many she could stack in a tower before they’d lose their cohesion and roll around. 

“...you wait til you see the blueprints, Maria, the helicarrier is a thing of beauty.” Mr. Fury whistled a little. 

“I don’t know,” her mom said, shaking her head, “I don’t think I trust something the size of an aircraft carrier hanging up there in the sky.” 

“Well, you’d best figure it out cause I’m going to need you to fly it.” 

“I—” 

Monica cut her mom off. “That sounds really bad for the environment. Like, lots of greenhouse gases.” Back in Louisiana people used to _burn tires_ out in fields whenever they felt like it, like there wasn’t a massive hole in the ozone layer. California was supposed to be better. Mr. Fury leaned back in his seat, looking at her. She looked at her mom. “Aunt Carol is up in space saving the planet, shouldn’t we be making sure there’s a planet here for her to come back to?” 

When she’d interrupted her mom, she’d gotten a bit of a look on her face, like Monica should watch it. But now her mom’s face had come over all shiny eyed. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” When her mom’s friends said stuff about wanting to make the world better she didn’t look at _them_ like they were an adorable baby. And Monica was _not_ a baby. She wanted people to take her seriously. At school they laughed at the way she talked, sometimes, and she didn’t have any friends, and her mom was so _patronizsing._

Monica felt some heat behind her eyes. “You’re ruining my future.” It was’s like in the Animorphs. None of the adults wouldwill do anything about the yeerks and that was’s why all the teens have to do stuff. That was ’s what was’s happening now with the ozone and the Great Barrier Reef and the whales and no one ever _listeneds._

Monica didn’t want to be there anymore. She stood up, chair screeching. 

She hadn’t totally lost her mind, though, so she asked, “May I be excused,” and glared up at her mom from under her lashes while her mom blinked and said, “Okay.” 

She pushed her way into the back of the house. She wanted to go outside, but she knew she wouldn’t be allowed. It wasn’t like at her grandma’s place, the acre where she knew every tree. There were too many houses here. 

When she opened the furthest door she could find, she was greeted with a “Mmrrp,” and the sight of twenty toe beans stretching themselves towards her as Goose woke up from a nap. 

Monica dropped into a crouch and Goose came over to weave between her legs and bump her hand a couple of times. 

Monica could feel the purring and it was like all of the frustration dropped out of her. She petted Goose a few times before Goose stepped away. Monica dropped her hand, already sad. Even Goose didn’t want her right now. 

Goose took a few steps then looked back, like _are you coming?_

And Monica had read enough books to know that she for sure was. 

Goose led her through the house, up to a window, which Goose popped open and nimbly leapt up from. Monica stuck her head out and saw Goose peering over the edge of the roof. 

Shrugging, Monica followed, grateful that her sneakers had enough stick that she didn’t slip off. 

Monica found a good spot and lay down on the roof. She knew she’d made the right choice, cause Goose hopped up and settled right on her chest. Their breathing fell in sync and Monica focused on staring up at the stars. 

Too much light pollution to see all of the Little Dipper, but Big Dipper was twinkling away, and Orion and Cassiopeia were doing their best to shine. 

She wondered where Carol was. 

If she was missing them. 

Moving to space had to be harder than moving to California, and she didn’t even have Monica and mom. Monica felt a few tears fall, but that was okay; that was for Carol. Monica was fine. 

Goose just purred. 

*** 

After that, Goose would appear in their house sometimes. 

The first time, Goose was watching Monica putting together a model of the solar system. Goose was staring at the little Pluto, wobbling on the stretched out wire Monica had set up. She wanted to capture Pluto’s extreme orbit, but it was making it a little unstable since it was a tighter ellipsis than the rest of the planets. 

Monica was doing some final tweaks on some of the parts where things stuck together when her mom burst in, one shoe in her hand and said, “I have to go to work—Fury’s called an emergency. The cat is missing, if you can believe that…” 

She trailed off, as if her mouth caught up with her eyes. 

She put a hand on her mouth, clearly trying not to laugh. Monica didn’t get it. She looked over at Goose who slow blinked back at her. 

“Guess I have a call to make,” her mom said, and walked out. 

Monica shrugged. “Adults are weird.” 

Goose blinked at her in approval. 

*** 

Goose mostly hung out, sitting near Monica and doing tongue baths, unlike their first meeting, when Goose had led Monica out to the stars. 

One day, close to Christmas, Goose was already on Monica’s bed when she got home. 

Which was strange, because today had been a very good day. Monica wasn’t sure how Goose did it, but she usually only got a visit when someone in class had been mean to her or when she was missing Carol especially bad. When everyone thought Carol was dead, Monica knew she wasn’t, so every day might be the day that Carol came back. When she missed Carol, she’d remind herself that today might be that day. 

Now that people knew Carol wasn’t dead, Monica knew for real that she wasn’t coming back, and sometimes that felt worse. 

But today, she’d had a great soccer practice, and she’d been right about winning them with snacks. The food only good thing about Louisiana except for her grandparents, so while maybe they weren’t friend-friends, she thought maybe they were on their way. Five months felt like forever to be waiting, but Monica could be patient. 

All that meant was she was surprised to see Goose there. But Goose clearly wasn’t there to relax. As soon as Monica opened the door, Goose popped up and walked out. Monica followed her. Technically she wasn’t breaking any rules because her mom hadn’t banned her from leaving, but she still tiptoed past the kitchen where her mom was cooking out the front door. 

Goose was trotting fast, so Monica was walking quick to keep up. It was sunset when they left, but Goose kept going until it was definitely dark. Monica was for sure going to be in trouble when she got back, but she was already in this, and she couldn’t back down now. 

They kept walking. The further they went, the darker it got, and the colder it was. 

When they were outside the town proper, Monica started to shiver a little. 

But then she saw it. A pinprick of light in the sky that got bigger and brighter. Monica shielded her eyes. Then it was gone and Goose was ahead of her. Monica scrambled to catch up. 

Her eyes readjusted to the darkness and Monica made out a blurry outline. 

She was shrieking and running before she even fully realised what she was looking at. 

“Carol! Auntie Carol!” 

Carol turned to look at Monica and her smile was almost as bright as she’d been glowing and Monica’s eyes were blurry again but she didn’t care. 

Carol picked her up and swung her around. 

“Hey, Lieutenant Trouble, what’s this?” 

Monica tried to give her a stern look but she was smiling too much. “I think you’ll find that I should be asking the questions. Are you or are you not supposed to be in space?” 

Carol put her down and Monica shivered again. “Here,” Carol said, and swung her jacket off her shoulders. Monica was surprised to realise her fingers almost reached the ends of the sleeves now. 

“It was supposed to be a surprise!” Carol said. “You know, for Christmas.” That made sense. Her mom loved Christmas. They didn’t take all their stuff from Louisiana but they still managed to bring three full boxes of Christmas decorations. “Santa asked me to bring some you some stuff from space.” 

Not Carol too! “I’m not a baby,” she said, glaring. 

“‘Course not,” Carol said easily, which made Monica feel a little silly, “but a smart person figures out how to get extra presents for as long as possible, and you’re the smartest person I know.” Carol said it like it was nothing, but Monica felt like she was twelve feet tall. 

“Mom is going to be so excited!” Then Monica remembered how she’d snuck out. “Mom is going to kill me.” 

“Not to undermine your mom, but she can only kill you if she knows you were gone—I assume she didn’t send you off into the desert on your own with no jacket, right? This was a sneaking out scenario?” 

Monica nodded. 

“Alright, well, let’s take our chances, then, shall we?” Carol asked and Monica liked the sound of that so she nodded harder. “Grab on.” 

Monica didn’t know what she meant for a second and then she saw Carol turn her back and duck down in the universal sign for piggy-back ride. “What about Goose?” 

“Good point,” Carol said, and like Goose knew what they were saying, Goose jumped up onto Monica’s shoulders, gripping lightly onto the jacket, claws embedded in the leather. 

Then Carol was taking off and they were flying! 

They didn’t go super high, but Monica could see her school, Mr. Fury’s house, and all the pinpricks of light that made up her neighbourhood before they hovered outside of Monica’s bedroom window. 

Goose jumped off and somehow the window was open. Californians had never heard of bug screens, so it was easy for Carol to help Monica inside and then climb in herself. 

“Moment of truth,” Carol said. “Introduce me?” 

Monica grinned. 

They went into the hallway. Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, finishing up her dinner. When she saw Monica, she said, “You done sulking in your room? I made potatoes.” 

Monica ignored her. “Merry Christmas!” she said. 

“What—” her mom started, and then Carol stepped out. 

Her mom put her hand over her mouth. 

“Hi, Maria,” Carol said, smiling. “Santa said you’ve been very good.” 

Monica rolled her eyes. Carol was so embarrassing. But if her mom thought Carol was corny, she didn’t let on, or she was too busy reaching out with slightly shaky hands and pulling in Carol for some kisses. 

Lots of kids hated it when their parents kissed, but Monica didn’t mind so much. Didn’t mean she wanted to watch it, though, so she looked at the floor and hummed a little until Carol said, “Okay, you can look.” 

They were still holding both their hands and staring at each other pretty dopily, so it wasn’t much better than the kissing. 

She felt Goose headbutt her leg. She looked down and Goose did it again, weaving between her ankles. _Okay, message received._ Monica went back to her room, they didn’t seem to notice. 

*** 

Goose started taking her on more walks after that. She found a fossil almost every time. It was turning into a full-on Jurassic Park in her room. 

As long as she stayed with Goose, her mom said it was okay, so they went all over. Some older boys tried to yell at her once, but she kept her nose up and when she looked back they’d scattered, some of them leaving their bikes behind, so Goose must have done something. 

*** 

School was ending for the year, which meant a lot of empty time coming. _More time to read,_ Monica told herself, but it wasn’t that exciting, really. 

But when she got home, she saw an extra coat on the hanger. “Carol!” She shouted. 

Carol poked her head out. “Trouble!” 

They did a handshake. There was hip bumping. 

“We’re watching Xena, come join.” 

Monica snuggled in between them on the couch. 

During the commercial break, Mom muted the TV. 

Carol asked, “So, any big plans for summer break?” 

Monica drooped a little, remembering the big nothing she had coming up. 

Her mom only said, “Why?” very suspiciously. 

“I was thinking, maybe, if you had time, you could both come up with me?” 

“To space?” her mom asked. 

“Yeah, I mean, if that’s okay?” Carol chewed her lip. 

Maria looked down at Monica. “We should probably talk about—” They were going to go off and make this an adult thing, but Monica could make decisions. 

“I wanna go to space,” she said firmly. 

“Well, if you wanna,” her mom said, and then Xena came back on and they didn’t say anything else. 

*** 

But two weeks later Monica was hoisting a duffel bag that was mostly books up to the spaceship Carol had landed in some super secret SHIELD area. Monica was on her final load when she looked down and saw Goose at her feet. 

“Carol,” she called out. “Can Goose come?” 

Carol said, “Goose is supposed to stay on Earth, sorry.” 

Monica’s heart sank. It would have been nice to have a friend in space. 

Her mom said, “Goose threw up the Tesseract yesterday, so we’re good to take it if we want.” 

Monica perked up. 

“Well, Goose does their own thing, so sure. If Goose wants to, Goose is welcome.” 

“What do you say, Goose?” Goose kept purring. This was going to be the best trip ever! 

*** 

She hadn’t even known the museum of interplanetary exploration had become a hostage situation until Aunt Carol literally burst through the wall with hands made of fire. 

Monica had been looking at a display and Goose had led her behind a rope and up some stairs and into this cool preservation area where she probably wasn’t supposed to be, but the curator person had waved an eye stalk at her and let her ask some questions and then all of a sudden Carol was there and Monica got why her call sign had been Avenger cause Monica did _not_ want to be on the wrong side of that look. 

After giving her some of the biggest hugs of her life Carol gave a big sigh and said, “Goose?” 

Monica nodded. 

“Thanks, Goose,” she whispered, and gave Goose a scratch behind the ears. 

*** 

Goose wasn’t around all of the time, not even most of the time, even though Mr. Fury had said, “This is your flerken now, good luck,” and brought over a small box of toys and a cat bed. 

But Monica had gotten used to Goose showing up over the years. 

She had really hoped now wouldn’t be one of those moments. 

Her powers were out of control. She’d been where she shouldn’t and now explosions kept coming out of her hands and every time she thought about how scary it was more happened and she just felt more and more out of control. 

Carol had been there and had rushed in and Monica had panicked and put her hands out. 

The blast had burned Carol. 

That had been the scariest moment of her life, realising she could hurt her. Carol was literally indestructable—what did this make Monica? 

She’d locked herself in a room at SHIELD headquarters, some sort of unused room by the looks of it. Monica had been used to having the run of SHIELD, but when she’d seen all the serious looking scientists and armed agents, she should have stayed back. But she didn’t and now...she didn’t know what came next. 

Carol was outside, but Monica didn’t want her to come in. 

That’s when Goose showed up. 

“No, Goose, it’s not safe,” Monica whispered, trying to keep everything still and contained. 

Goose just slow blinked at her and didn’t move. 

Monica blinked back. 

Goose wasn’t going anywhere. 

Monica took a shaky breath in and Goose blinked again. 

They fell into a rhythm. Goose would blink and Monica would breathe and after a while Monica looked down and realised her hands looked...normal. No more bursts of light, no more shimmer of electricity. 

She flexed her fingers. 

Goose stood up, stretched, and padded towards the door. Then Goose stared back at Monica, pawing at the door jamb. 

“Like you can’t open it yourself,” Monica muttered, but she opened it anyway. 

Carol was standing there, and further down the hallway, so was her mom. 

“I’m okay,” she said, and it was true. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are loved!


End file.
